The Stamps went through their final full practice in preparation for Sunday night’s home opener against the Montreal Alouettes, and based on what we saw today, we can tell you a few things that will likely show up tomorrow when Calgary declares its 46-man roster.

For instance, it looks as though Landan Talley has won the battle — this week, at least — to start at the slotback position formerly held by Ken-Yon Rambo. The competition had been between him and Marquay McDaniel, but I suspect this will be a week-to-week situation.

As well, Demetrice Morley’s troublesome knee kept him out of practice today, meaning Chris Randle will get his first pro start at the coverage linebacker position, and that means he’ll be seeing a lot of Als’ slotback Jamel Richardson, who made the bold declaration in today’s Montreal Gazette that his sights are set on a 2,000-yard receiving season.

Back to offence, Na’Shan Goddard looks to be the opening-night starter at left tackle, as the Stamps want to make sure Edwin Harrison is fully recovered from the hamstring injury that caused him to miss most of training camp.

As well, Mark Dewit should be the starter at centre.

And most intriguing of all for local high school fans is the apparent plan for University of Calgary Dinos career rushing leader and ex-Bishop O’Byrne Bobcat Matt Walter to suit up for his first pro game.

Walter was taking a few reps with the first-team offence, but his main assignments will be on special teams against the Alouettes. Jabari Arthur’s hamstring problem would seem to be the domino that fell to get Walter into the lineup.

With Walter set to play, the question then becomes, will LaMarcus Coker be in the lineup? It would seem the Stamps would have to do some ratio-juggling to get Coker into the 42-man final roster at game time. Should Coker play, the Stamps would stick to their tradition of giving Jon Cornish two series and then bringing Coker in at running back every third series.

But if it’s only Walter and not Coker suiting up, look for Cornish to be the primary back for the entire evening, with the occasional break.

We write this with the admonition that, of course, nothing is official. Certainly none of the principals — and especially not coach and GM John Hufnagel — was giving out anything in the way of confirmations, and we’ve been around long enough to realize that all of this could change between now and tomorrow morning when the Stamps announce their 46-man roster (keeping in mind that four more players would be scratched an hour before kickoff).

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.